The Forest
by BrokenBone
Summary: I really don't know what to write here! One-shot. Rated T for language.


**Hiya! **

Took a little break from Fatum Amor and wrote this while I had the mind set.  
It's probably now super great, but y'know, there will never be too much VanillexLightning.

I know I'm not that great at lovely-dovely stuff!  
Me + romance = My name is Error.

_**Disclaimer;**_

_I don't own any of the characters mentioned or participating in this fic, they are all property of Square Enix!_

Hope you'll enjoy this one-shot anyway!

* * *

"This is not okay, Lightning!" The redhead yelled in a cracked voice as she kept stomping through the thick forest. Her clothes, pearls and other random accessories, where all covered in a reddish goo. "This is simply _not _okay, Lightning!"

Following a few feet behind the fuming girl was another girl dressed in a soldiers outfit, she smirked softly. "I told you to watch me." She said bluntly, still walking relaxed with her hands nonchalantly stuffed in the pockets of her short soldiers skirt.

The redhead swung around at this, the first thing meeting her furious eyes being the smug smirk of the older girl as she walked past her. Glaring at the back of the soldier's head, she pouted and crossed her arms.

"I did watch you! But I was trying to help you at the same time!" The redheaded girl stormed after Lightning whom had not stopped to listen to the younger ones complaints.

"If you had been watching like I told you to, you wouldn't be covered in tomato-monster muck right now, Vanille."

Vanille could hear the amusement in Lightning voice, and it only fueled the fire that was already licking the treetops.

"Lightning you smug son of a-...! _Agh_!" She yelled and threw up her hands in defeat, quickening her pace and making sure to hit the older girls shoulder with her own as she passed her and stormed off.

"Going off on your own is not a good idea Vanille." Lightning said before the girl got to far away. But her words fell on deaf ears as Vanille kept stomping her way even further away from Lightning.

Lightning however, kept her pace, certain that the fiery redhead was going to come back over the hill as soon as she noticed she wasn't being chased.

But the redhead remained absent.

The soldier frowned and scratched the back of her head. "Oh heavens.."

She had made a promise to Fang not to lose the girl, who had made it very clear to her what would happen if something happened to Vanille that would hurt her in any way.

Lightning was sure she was screwed already since Vanille was clearly upset, but her current 'punishment' would be nothing compared to what Fang would do if Lightning actually lost the girl.

And this creepy feeling that she was being watched by someone or something didn't help either. Feeling that she should try to find the girl, she quickened her own pace, going into a small jog.

"Vanille?"

Her voice bounced off the huge trees and made its way back to her ears, creating an eerie feeling that sent shivers up her spine. She could not see nor hear Vanille anywhere.

"Vanille!" She tried a little louder this time, but was greeted by the same eerie copy of her own voice.

"Fuck..." She murmured and started looking high and low in the little glade she had entered.

From a distance, Vanille was watching the older girls search. She was still upset and had no plans on revealing herself. She had climbed a tree and was hidden among the leaves where she would be hard to spot, but she could still observe everything in the glade.

She could hear the soldier swear under her breath as she walked around every tree in the glade.

"Vanille, this isn't funny, show yourself!" Lightning stopped and crossed her arms.

Vanille could only smile at the fool, standing right underneath her and not knowing that she was being watched by the very person she was trying to find.

"Fine!" Lightning growled. "Fine! I'm going back to the camp without you then, how's that?"

She marched out of the glade.

Vanille watched her go, still upset. She would be safe up in the tree for the night, it's Lightnings fault anyway if she didn't come back and get her - which she would - that she was going to catch a cold by sleeping without a blanket!

But she couldn't help feeling a little worried. Becasue she couldn't say for _sure _that Lightning was coming back for her...

"Fuck... stupid stuborn little kid..." Lightning had been walking slowly for quite a while now. The sun was slowly lowering on the sky and she wasn't even near half way back to camp. But something was nagging her, keeping her from just marching on like she could have.

And that something, was _guilt_. She was feeling guilty, no matter how much she hated to admit it.

She was feeling guilty because she left the redheaded girl in the forest all alone.

Come to think of it, she was quite sure that the redhead was afraid of the dark.

"Fuck this..." Lightning groaned. Turning around and jogging back the way she came from.

She didn't know what that sound was.

Not that sound either.

There where different sounds everywhere around her, and it was creepy!

She just couldn't believe that Lightning would leave her here in the middle of the forest, all alone, covered in tomato-monster goo, in the middle of the night. To be honest, she had hoped for a more chivalry act from the soldier, wasn't she schooled in that stuff by the army?

"Apparently not Vanille..."

She had spoked to herself because she had hoped that she could calm herself, but instead the forest all around her turned completely quiet as soon as her voice left her lips, a chill ran up her spine because she could swear that there was a precense right in front of her right now. She quickly made her way down the tree, she needed to get back to the camp, or to find Lightning, to find anyone!

She started running in the direction that she hoped she had come from, leaving the glade behind her in the darkness.

She ran as fast as she dared, she couldn't see more than an arms legnth in front of her in the thick darkness that filled the forest. Worst thing being - she knew exactly what dwelled in these woods during the day, she could just assume what horrors crawled out of the pits of hell during the night.

Thoughts of monsters around every tree and creepy creatures following her soundlessly made her speed up even more. She was sprinting between the trees now, panicking. The only thing keeping her from yelling was the thought of everything her voice would attract.

But she couldn't stop herself from sobbing and whimpering. What if she didn't make it? She was at least two hours of walking from the camp, there's no way she will be able to run all the way.

Fear filled her chest, something was following her, she could hear the heavy thuds from its footsteps. "No!" She yelled, hoping that it would scare whatever it was away, hoping for it to leave her alone so she could find somewhere to hide and cover for the night. But the heavy steps behind her was not stopping, instead it was catching up on her!

"No! Stop!" She yelled, her voice cracking from the fear.

Tears was streaming down her cheeks, she wished that she hadn't been so childish with Lightning, she wished that she was with Lightning now, the soldiers presense always made her feel safe for some reason.

She had only been so childish about the mess because she had hoped for the older girl to show that she cared somehow, she had hoped that Lightning would reach out to her, tell her that she was sorry about the incident and that she would make it up to her. Like a gentle-woman.

The tears were making it even harder for her to see, but she still willed herself to look backwards at whatever it was that chased her.

Her heart grew cold.

Two giant, yellow eyes with huge pupils was right at her heels, hungrily staring back at her.

She screamed in horror and struggled to run faster, panic and fear being the only thing driving her forward.

Her foot connected with something.

Her heart stopped.

This was like a nightmare.

She was being chased, and now she tripped and fell to the forest floor.

The only thing differing this from a nightmare being that she was now going to meet her end instead of waking up in her bed.

The yellow orbs rose high above her as she turned around on the ground. She could see the moonlight reflect on huge, white fangs.

She covered her eyes with her hands as more tears made their way down her already soaked cheeks. She held her hand outstretched and tried to strike the beast with whatever magic she could conjure.

But nothing happened.

Seeing the beasts eyes change from a slight worry to an expression of victory, she knew that her end had come.

"Not so fast!"

A flash of light and a loud crack split a tree in half, it fell and missed Vanilles legs by just a few feet. Separating Vanille from the beast.

With a graceful leap, Lightning hoped up and stood on the fallen tree trunk that she had just destroyed with her Thundera. She looked around a bit and put away her gunblade before turning to Vanille and making her way down from the log and onto ground level.

She kneeled down and inspected Vanille as best as she could in the dark.

"It seems like the lizard changed his mind." She said quietly as she finished her check.

Their eyes met.

"You okay Vanille?"

Vanilles breath got caught in her throat. Her lower lip started trembling.

There she was, the girl she had cursed over several times because she never showed any emotion, never showed that she cared and never stopped to take care of the ones that fell behind. She was still a bit roused, but she nodded. She was tired, but she was unharmed except for a scraped knee.

"You came back..." Vanille whimpered as Lightning unraveled her first aid supplies. She had stopped crying, and she was feeling safe now that the older girl where here.

The older girl grunted and started cleaning the scrape wound on Vanilles knee, the latter winced.

"I know, this stings." The soldier slowed down and tried her best not to torment the young girl. "I shouldn't have left you in the first place." She heard the soldier mumble, barely audible. "I was acting stupid, and you where almost eaten in the process..."

She wrapped a bandage around the knee, and when she considered herself finished, she met Vanilles puffy green eyes.

"I'm so sorry Vanille."

The younger girls heart swelled.

She had looked up to Lightning since the beginning, but this was something different. It was as if hundreds of butterflies had hatched from the center of her heart and was now fluttering around in her chest making her feel light-headed.

Her breath got caught in her throat as the older girl reached out her hand for her, offering to help her even more.

Vanille bit her lip.

She knew what this was. She had felt like this before, whenever Lightning showed concern or seemed happy, her heart would do this.

She slowly took Lightnings hand.

She's strong, confident and beautiful.

Vanille knew this, she just hadn't put much thought into it prior this moment. This moment where she was looking up into big, azure blue eyes that screamed of remorse and concern. This moment when this soldier was being highlighted by the moon that glowed through the hole in the ceiling of leaves that the same soldier had created with her stregnth.

Vanille grasped the surprisingly soft digits, and as soon as Lightnings hand closed incredibly gently around Vanilles thin digits, Vanilles heart fluttered more so than before.

She knew now for certain what this was, this must be what they call _love_.

As the thought entered her mind, it all seemed to fall into place. How torn she felt whenever Lightning would go against the group, how content she felt when she where around, how worried she got whenever Lightning were struck during battle and how incomplete she felt when Lightning slept away from the group.

It all made sence now.

She was in love.

She was in love with _Lightning Farron_.

Fueled by the sudden realization and the butterflies in her chest, she let herself be helped of off the ground. And as soon as she was back upon her feet, she stepped in and claimed what she had wanted subconsciously for quite a while.

She pushed herself up on the balls of her feet and quickly leaned in and caught the Farrons soft lips with her own.

She could feel the Farron twitch at her act, but she didn't care, it was too late to care or back down now.

The few seconds that the kiss lasted had her heart hammering against her chest. She stood back on her heels, separating herself from Lightnings lips. But she dared not open her eyes in fear that the older girl would stare at her with disgust.

Several seconds passed, and to her surprise, Lightning wasn't moving, she just stood there where Vanille had caught her off guard.

A slight movement made Vanille twitch before a pair of warm lips entwined with her own and a pair of strong arms pulled her close.

* * *

_Pzzt!_

Don't forget to leave a review with your thoughts!  
Constructive criticism is always very much appreciated!


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